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JURISDOCS
Winter 2018 ISSN 0162-3079
Vol. 38, Iss. 2
From the Editors
In This Issue:
Dear GD-SIS members,
Major changes affecting access to government infor-
From the Editors 1
mation continue. In this issue, the Advocacy Committee
Message from the Chair 2 updates us on two recent developments of interest to
Advocacy Committee News 3 the government documents community: the FCC’s deci-
sion to repeal its 2015 Net Neutrality rules and the contin-
36th Annual IALL Course 6
ued work on revisions to Title 44. As the letter from SIS
Officers 8 Chair Cate Kellett reports, many law librarians were able
to participate in the fall DLC Meeting and FDLP Confer-
ence, and all are encouraged attend the continuing dis-
cussions of Title 44 at the next virtual DLC meeting on
April 18-20, 2018. Last but not least, Ed Hart shares his
experience attending the IALL Conference held in Atlanta
this past October.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Kunkel & Stacy Fowler
1JURISDOCS| Winter 2018
Message from the Chair
Cate Kellett
Catalog and Government Documents Librarian, Yale Law School
GD-SIS Chair 2017-2018
Dear GD-SISers,
I was glad to see many of you at the DLC Meeting and Federal Depository Library Conference in
October. The sessions this year were particularly thought-provoking, including not one but three
keynote addresses featuring Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, Law Librarian of Congress
Jane Sanchez, and James LaRue, the Director of the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom. If you
couldn’t attend, many presentations are available through the conference’s website: https://
www.fdlp.gov/events-and-conferences/2017-depository-library-council-meeting-federal-
depository-library-conference.
Unsurprisingly, a significant portion of the programming was dedicated to the future of Title 44. As
government documents librarians, we are particularly concerned with any potential legislative
changes, so join in on the discussion. To have your voice heard, please send Peggy Jarrett or Emily
Feltren your thoughts. And to learn more about the most recent updates, check out Peggy’s post
on LLRX: https://www.llrx.com/2017/12/legislation-alert-worrisome-changes-to-government-
publications-are-possible/. Also check out freegovinfo.info for information on Title 44 issues.
As usual, the Law Librarians & Friends Dinner had a large turnout, delicious food, and great compa-
ny. The next time such a large group of gov docs law librarians will get together to share a meal
will happen at AALL 2018 in Baltimore. Make sure to look for a new date and time for the GD-SIS
Business Meeting. Due to funding changes, the Board voted to change the annual breakfast to an
off-site lunch. We’ll email more information to the list once the plans are finalized. I look forward
to seeing many of you there!
Finally, I would like to congratulate the latest graduates of the FDLP Coordinator Certificate Pro-
gram. As a graduate myself, I encourage all coordinators to complete the program. It’s useful both
for those with no formal FDLP training and those who need to update their training to more recent
regulations. Find out how to apply here: https://www.fdlp.gov/academy/fdlp-coordinator-
certificate-program.
2JURISDOCS| Winter 2018
Advocacy Committee Report
Peggy Jarrett
Head of Collection Development
Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington School of Law
GD-SIS Advocacy Committee Chair
Advocacy Update: 2018 Begins
Welcome to 2018 and, among other things, the second session of the 115th Congress. The GD-SIS advo-
cacy committee has two reports, one on net neutrality (with an action alert) and one on the status of
the draft Title 44 bill. Finally, we have two save-the-dates for your consideration.
Net Neutrality
Advocacy Committee member Marlene Harmon updates us on the status of net neutrality:
On December 14, 2017, by a party line vote of 3 to 2, the FCC passed what it calls the “Restoring Inter-
net Freedom Order,” which repeals the Obama administration’s 2015 Open Network Order and will end
net neutrality. The final order, issued January 4, 2018 will be published in the Federal Register. The 539
page order, statements by supporting commissioners (Pai, O’Rielly, Carr) and opposing commissioners
(Clyburn, Rosenworcel) are all available at the FCC website.
As of this writing, the final order has not been published in the Federal Register. Once it is published
there and submitted to Congress, members of Congress will have 60 session days to introduce a resolu-
tion of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), has the
support of all 49 democratic senators and one Republican for such a resolution. He needs only one more
vote to assure passage in the Senate. When questioned by Senator Markey, Twitter, Facebook and
YouTube executives all spoke in support of the proposed resolution at a January 17, 2018 hearing before
the Senate Commerce Committee. However, even if it does pass the Senate, the resolution will still need
to make it through the House and to President’s Trump’s desk for signature, both of which events seem
unlikely.
3JURISDOCS| Winter 2018
In breaking news, AALL’s Government Relations Office just posted an action alert on this very issue.
Read the net neutrality one-pager, then use AALL’s Action Center to tell Congress tell use the Con-
gressional Review Act (CRA) to pass a “resolution of disapproval” to overturn the FCC vote.
States are not waiting for Washington to act. The FCC order may bar state laws from contradicting
the federal government's approach, but this hasn’t stopped states and even municipalities from in-
troducing legislation or filing lawsuits against the FCC. On January 16, 2018, for example, a coalition
of attorneys general from 22 states, all Democrats, filed a petition in the U.S. District Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia asking the court to declare the FCC’s order unlawful and to set it aside.
And just last week, the governors of Montana and New York issued executive orders requiring inter-
net service providers to follow net neutrality principles when conducting business in their states.
Even some municipalities are enacting their own net neutrality rules.
Opposition to the FCC’s order is clearly energized, taking on many forms and coming from many quar-
ters. Net Neutrality is not dead yet!
Title 44: Rewriting the Law Continues Apace
As you know by now, in December 2017, a draft bill completely rewriting Title 44 of the United States
Code was circulated. The bill, under consideration by the Committee on House Administration, is a
decidedly mixed bag.
The Federal Depository Library Program and access to government information is covered in Chapter
5 of the draft bill. There is some good language about a national collection and free public access, and
that language is possibly being improved behind the scenes through the efforts of AALL’s Govern-
ment Relations Office, working with the American Library Association and the Association of Research
Libraries. The library associations are not quite in agreement on a few points, particularly the mini-
mum number and geographic distribution of regional depository libraries, but all three library associ-
ations want a healthy environment for government information, GPO, and the FDLP.
Most troubling, however, are Chapters 1 and 3, which hurt GPO and could potentially privatize gov-
ernment information, especially Congressional information. You can read my take on the troubling
parts on LLRX.com and James Jacob’s on Free Government Information.
4JURISDOCS| Winter 2018
The end result is still unknown, and a lot can happen in the next several months. By the time you read
this, we may well have another draft bill to consider. The committee may have scheduled markup.
Legislative language might change, for the good or not. A potential challenging situation might arise
as well. The library community may end up enthusiastically supporting parts of the bill—the parts
that address what we have discussed and asked for these many years: a stronger, modernized FDLP.
At the same time, we may also enthusiastically oppose the parts of the bill that harm GPO and under-
mine the structure of public access to government information. But there is hope! If we cannot sup-
port the House bill, and it passes, we still have opportunities in the Senate to raise our concerns and
work towards a better outcome.
Better outcomes do not happen without our participation. It is vitally important that we stay alert
and engaged. We may see action alerts coming from AALL – and if that happens you know what to
do! Take action! As hard as Emily Feltren is working on our behalf, she needs us, AALL members, to
be the citizens who contact legislators and help them understand why they should care about perma-
nent public access to legal government information as much as we do. Keep an eye out for news on
the Advocacy listserv and the GD-SIS community. Share what you think – with each other, with Emily,
and with your legislators.
Save the Dates!
The Spring Depository Library Council Virtual Meeting will be April 18-20. Sign up to attend! The
more law librarians who participate the better. Law libraries make up one-sixth of the FDLP and GPO
needs to hear our concerns. The preliminary schedule is here and includes a session on the grants
provision in the draft Title 44 bill.
A Title 44 program will be part of the AALL Annual Meeting! The GD-SIS sponsored program, Re-
writing the Rules of the Federal Depository Library Program: The Struggle to Amend 44 U.S.C., was
accepted and scheduled during prime time: Sunday, July 15, from 11:30am to 12:30pm. Come hear
our own Erik Beck, who currently serves on the Depository Library Council, along with a representa-
tive from GPO and a staffer from the Committee on House Administration. The program promises to
be informative, and there will be an opportunity for open discussion.
5JURISDOCS| Winter 2018
IALL: 36th Annual Course on International Law and Legal In-
formation
Edward T. Hart
Assistant Dean for Law Library UNT Dallas College of Law
The 2017 annual course of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) was hosted by Emory
University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia on 22-26 October. IALL’s program is unlike AALL’s an-
nual meeting in that it takes the format of a series of programs that serve as an in-depth introduc-
tion to the host country’s legal system, providing both historical perspective and highlighting current
events. This recent meeting was no exception. Under the leadership of Christina Glon, the Local
Planning Committee pulled together both a great program and some wonderful social opportunities.
The 2017 theme was “Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Other Critical Issues in U.S. Law” with a sub-
theme of “Atlanta as a Center for Human Rights.” The keynote address was given by Professor
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im of Emory School of Law. He spoke from his perspective as an African-
American Muslim about the transposition of international civil and human rights with American
law and policy.
To provide context to the keynote address and other presentations, the agenda included visits to the
Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. The inter-
national attendees, as well as the American ones, learned how the civil rights movement of Martin
Luther King, headquartered at his Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, strived for equal rights of Afri-
can-Americans, and gave birth to a larger human rights movement in Atlanta that continues today.
One who picked up King’s torch was Jimmy Carter, who during both his presidency and afterwards
worked on many facets of human rights.
6JURISDOCS| Winter 2018
Monuments.” It was given by Sheffield Hale, President and CEO of the Atlanta History Center and
chair of Atlanta’s task force weighing recommendations to the city how to handle its Confederate
memorials. Hale is not a trained historian, but a lawyer. His presentation laid out the dilemma con-
fronting many cities in the American South: that of reconciling Confederate memorials and other
Confederate namesakes with today’s integrated society. He further pointed out there are many in-
ternational parallels that we can study for possible approaches. His examples included Eastern Euro-
pean nations in the 1990s who dealt with the communist and Soviet Union monuments: statutes of
Lenin and Stalin, for example, left after the collapse of Communism, the Berlin Wall, and the Warsaw
Pact. Another example Hale highlighted is the British, colonial-era monuments left in India after Indi-
an independence.
But just like AALL’s meetings, you cannot forget the networking opportunities and the social events
that cultivate such networking. The Emory hosts left no bowling ball unrolled as they took advantage
for one night’s fun of the unique set of an in-house bowling alley in the conference hotel. The closing
dinner was at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. Like AALL’s luncheon, the dinner was an op-
portunity to recognize the hard work the association’s volunteers have done.
If you ever have the opportunity to attend an IALL annual course, I highly recommend you go! You
will learn a lot about the host country’s legal system and have a wonderful time networking with law
librarians from around the globe.
7JURISDOCS| Winter 2018
Officers
Chair: Cate Kellett cate.kellet@yale.edu
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Stacy Fowler sfowler@stmarytx.edu
Secretary/Treasurer: Shannon Roddy roddy@wcl.american.edu
Past Chair: Jennifer Wondracek Jennifer.wondracek@untsystem.edu
Member-at-Large: Charlotte Schneider cds153@camden.rutgers.edu
Advocacy Committee: Peggy Jarrett pjarrett@uw.edu
FDLP Task Force: Kate Irwin-Smiler irwinsc@wfu.edu
Grants Committee: Pat Behles pbehles@ubalt.edu
Nominations Committee: Sarah Gotschall sgotscha@email.arizona.edu
Program Committee: Stacy Fowler sfowler@stmarytx.edu
Public Relations Committee: Shannon Roddy roddy@wcl.american.edu
Publications Committee: Ed Hart Edward.hart@untdallas.edu
Webmaster: Erik Beck Erik.beck@colorado.edu
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